Today’s geopolitical environment is at its most turbulent point since the end of the Cold War. Conventional warfare has returned to the European continent, and the Russian State continues to conduct its shadow war on the European Union. With Beijing bankrolling the Kremlin’s hybrid war campaign, and with support from other authoritarian states globally, the transatlantic economic and security alliance is facing its being challenged at every corner. In addition to hard power competition, this authoritarian axis is also undermining shared liberal democratic norms and practices from within, launching state capture cycles, sabotaging public goods on our cities, conducting information warfare and other next generation attacks, amongst other tactics. AI has become a powerful accelerant, and now serves as the frontier of geopolitical competition.

As China and the US compete for AI dominance, and thus compete to dominate the AI grid of the future, Europe must act across three strategic fronts. It must defend its institutions, through mechanisms like the European Democracy Shield, whilst also securing its technological and economic base. Without technological sovereignty and economic competitiveness, the EU will remain shaped by external developments – as opposed to shaping them. Finally, Europe must lead globally through values-based cooperation, partnering with like-minded nations for the defence of shared values. By doing so, Europe may not only safely transit this period of upheaval, but may become the world’s preeminent normative geopolitical power, championing democratic values and fortifying freedoms across the international arena.